American Airlines, CJIA differ on notice to pilots about temporary runway lights

Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 August 2019, 17:42 by Writer

American Airlines (AA) and Guyana’s Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) on Wednesday differed about whether a notice was ever issued to pilots about a temporary lighting system at the airport that damaged the wheels of one of AA’s planes.

‘The cable appears to be part of a temporary runway light solution which was not visible to the crew and no previous notice was issued to pilots,” AA said in a statement.

Later Wednesday, the CJIA, in its account of the incident, said a notice had been issued.

“The appropriate Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was previously issued to advise of these works and for pilots to exercise caution when in the vicinity of the threshold” the airport said.

AA said that early Wednesday, Flight 1512 with 127 passengers bound for Miami left the gate and was taxiing for takeoff when the aircraft, an Airbus A319, ran over a cable and damaged some tyres.

The carrier said it was following up with the CJIA airport authority as they investigate the matter.

The flight was scheduled to leave at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, the airline said.

The CJIA account states that about 12:34 am the plane was executing a turn on RWY 06 threshold for takeoff when the mishap occurred.

“During the turn, the aircraft’s nose gear and right main gear tires were deflated after coming into contact with temporary threshold lights. As a result, the aircraft became disabled, and the runway closed,” CJIA said.

The airport said those temporary threshold lights were put in place by the China Harbour Engineering Limited to facilitate the runway extension works.

At 4:40 am, according to CJIA, the runway was reopened for flight operations following the relocation of the aircraft.

The CJIA and Guyana Civil Aviation Authority are reportedly conducting separate investigations into the incident.